


Rage

by Alliance (Xazz)



Series: Cypress Hall [46]
Category: Flight Rising
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-25 23:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14988131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xazz/pseuds/Alliance





	Rage

~~~~After spending all day with Savathün Astra was ready to go relax in her room, organize her notes for the day, and do some light reading on necromancy. She was about to open her door when she noticed that the door next to hers, the one she’d claimed as her nesting space, was more than a bit ajar.

She stared at the door and in the silence heard her heart _pounding_.

In three steps she’d left her own bedroom door and shoved the nesting chamber door open. All the blood drained out of her face.

Azazel was sitting on the edge of where she’d laid her eggs. It was mostly just a collection of soft fabrics inside a bowl made from old pieces of marble she’d scrounged up to make it soft. In the nest was a littering of broken glass from hatched Light eggs and one still unhatched but glowing brightly still. Two of her hatchlings were already hatched and being gently petted by Azazel, the creep. One hand was gently stroking the mane of a small Imperial while the other was fiddling with his perfectly manicured mustache.

When the door opened he turned over his shoulder. “Ah, Astra,” he said, a horrible smirk in the corner of his mouth.

“Get away from them,” she said, her voice devoid of emotion.

“I think not. These are _my_ children,” he said, blue sclera’d eyes narrowing.

“Get away from them,” she said again and advanced into the room.

Azazel didn’t stand. He just stayed where he was sitting on the side of the nest. “This one looks just like you, don’t you think?” he asked and moved aside just enough as she stormed up to him so she could see the Skydancer. It looked at her with its bright yellow eyes and chirped at her. They looked just like her when she’d been young. Sandy rosette pelt, brilliant sunset wings and a glittering belly nearly the same color. It was like looking into a mirror. It froze her. “I think I like her too,” and he picked the hatchling up, pulling it into his lap.

Astra looked down at him and before he could react she screamed at him and slashed him across the face with her hand. She’d been carefully turning them into claws the past week after seeing how perfectly her brother could go back and forth between forms without it taking more than a day. She figured _she_ could also have some tolerance for strange transformations. It had been _painful_ but she’d done it. It let her carve perfect wounds across Azazel’s pretty face. “DO NOT TOUCH ME,” she screamed at him.

Azazel howled in pain and grabbed at his face, throwing the hatchling off of him where it tumbled to the ground, giving a pain filled shriek.

Without thinking Astra scooped up the little hatchling and the still unhatched egg. Then she looked down at her third. An Imperial, even a baby, was too heavy for her to carry. Azazel was trying to get himself in order. “Come with me,” she said softly.

“Am, am,” the skydancer chirped and to her surprise gently took the egg of their sibling and held it. That gave Astra what she needed and she could grab the Imperial by the joint of its wing and pulled it out of the room. It squeaked in protest but did follow even as she dragged it out into the Warren’s twisting tunnels.

Behind them, Azazel roared furiously. She ignored him and just continued to get her children away from him. They’d made it around the bend and she shoved the Imperial into a gap in the soft earth and managed to squeeze in after it. When she and Aten had been young they’d made many of these little crevices to hide in when they were scared because they thought something was following them, or they were _sure_ something was going to be coming up the other way towards them. Most of the time it was nothing. But sometimes. Sometimes it was… something. Astra didn’t like to think of it. No one but the two of them knew they were there so Azazel just ran past it, towards the entrance.

“Am, am,” the skydancer chirped at her.

“Shhh,” she shushed it and touched her gem to their gem. It quieted. She laid a soft hand on the Imperial’s head and calmed them too. Astra leaned against the soft soil wall and closed her eyes with a deep breath. They waited a long time. Long enough to heard Azazel had gone outside, looked around as much as he could, and come back inside roaring furiously and calling for Savathün to come heal his face. His ‘perfect’ face was damaged by that ‘horrible apprentice of yours’. She waited until he’d quieted before pulling herself out of the crevice. Her hatchling needed a bit of help but she got them out too.

She set the skydancer down. “Keep quiet,” she whispered finger to her lips. They wiggled their antenna at her. She kept hold of her last egg and started up towards the surface. Her hatchlings followed after her and complained against the harsh light of midday. They didn’t want to leave the shadowed darkness of the Warren, all they had ever known. She pushed them out into the light.

“Abbadon,” she called as she started across the island. “Abbadon!”

They were in the hardwood part of the island when the wildclaw emerged from the foliage. “You called?” he ground out, voice harsh and grating.

“Yes,” she said. “I—“ she looked down at her children. “They hatched early. I need you to fly north and tell someone.”

“You want me to _leave_ the Warren?” he growled. “Leave Slaughter and Killing near that abomination?”

“If you don’t then he will get worse,” she snapped. “If he gets my children what do you think will happen?” she demanded.

Abbadon’s crest was slicked back in annoyance. “Very well,” and he left. She heard him take flight. She sighed and took her children to the shore.

She sat down on a big rock and was about to cover her face with her hands to find that her hand was covered in blood. Of course, it was. She washed it in the water and sat back down. Her hatchlings came up next to her, whining. “What?” she asked. They just whined. “I don’t— what do you want?” she was near a break down now. They just kept whining at her. “I have nothing for you,” she said and looked away from them. She drew her legs up to her chest. Why did this keep happening to her?

The hatchlings tried to climb up on the rock with her but it was too small and they kept sliding off. Her heart clenched tighter and tighter when they started squeaking pitifully at her and covered her ears, squeezing her eyes shut.

A heavy thud sounded nearby. She looked up quickly and saw the spotted hide of her brother in draconic form. She leaped off the rock over to him even as he lowered his head to her. “Astra, what happened?” she grabbed his entire head and just sobbed. “Astra?” he asked and hiforeclawaw came up to curl around to hold her. She just cried into his mane and he slouched down, practically belly down in the mud, and just held her. Once she’d gotten ahold of herself he tried again, “Abbadon came and got me. What happened?” She wiped her eyes with her forearm and looked behind her. Aten followed her gaze and stared at the two little hatchlings who were hiding behind the rock. “Oh,” he sighed.

“They hatched early,” she said, her voice trembling. “Azazel got to them first.”

“Well he doesn’t have them now,” he said. He sighed again. “I’ll take them now then shouldn’t I?” She nodded, shaking still. He nosed her face softly. “Are you okay?”

“I will be,” she swallowed. “I just… please— take them away,” she whispered. “I can’t.”

“Astra— just let me kill him,” Aten pleaded.

“Not yet.”

“Is it worth this?” he demanded and motioned to the hatchlings.

“I don’t know if— killing him will actually help.”

“What?”

“I’ve been doing some reading. I don’t think… whatever Azazel is, that killing him will even _do_ anything. Not with Savathün around.”

“He’s a necromancer?”

“I don’t know what he is but he might be. Or he could be something else. I don’t even know he’s even actually an Imperial. All killing him could do is make it worse, or make him angry.”

“Then fuck them both, leave. Come to North Face with me. Azazel is wary of Johanna and Savathün bends to Layali. You’d be safe on North Face.” She shook her head to her brother’s pleading. “Why not?” he demanded.

“I can’t leave Killing here. She doesn’t deserve this. And if I take her nothing will stop Savathün from taking her back. I don’t want to know what she really has in this Warren,” her voice was grave.

Aten puffed out a harsh bit of wind in annoyance. “Fine,” he grunted. “ _Fine_ ,” he wasn’t happy about it but he saw the reason. “I’ll just take these then.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t,” he said, anger in his voice. She looked away.

He went over to the hatchlings and while they tried to shy away Aten just scooped them up. He could hold both in one claw and delicately picked up the still unhatched egg with his back foot. “Once I figure this out-

“I know,” Aten cut her off. Still angry. The hatchlings chirped and squeaked in distress, reaching out to her. She just held her arms pitifully. She should have tried to calm them but she couldn’t even calm herself. “I’ll be waiting,” and then he took off. The hatchlings shrieked but their voices were quickly lost in the space.

Astra watched Aten fly away before she collapsed, sinking down to her knees. She folded over her thighs with a heavy sob, her red hair trailing through the wet earth that was sodden from more than just the swamp water.


End file.
